SAULT STE. MARIE, ON - For a young team with a short bench, the first two home games of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League regular season showed signs of character for the Soo Thunderbirds.
With a new coach behind the bench and a lot of turnover from the team that finished in top spot in the NOJHL’s West Division last season, there were some positives in a pair of weekend home games that wrapped up Saturday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
The team dropped a 5-3 decision to the defending-champion Powassan Voodoos on Saturday in a game that the Thunderbirds trailed 3-0 through one period before battling back to tie the game at three with the help of a pair of goals early in the third period.
The game marked the second consecutive night that the Thunderbirds scored a pair of goals in the final period to erase a deficit.
On Friday night at home against Blind River, the Thunderbirds dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Beavers after scoring twice in the third, including the game-tying goal by Alex Acosta with 2:38 to go in regulation to force the extra frame where Steven Khull scored the game-winner.
“The boys showed an enormous amount of character,” said Thunderbirds Coach John Parco following Saturday’s matchup with Powassan. “We’re missing a lot of guys. If it wasn’t for a couple of counter-attacks early in the game that caught us off guard, we took the play to them for the most part in the game.”
Acosta and Nicolas Case picked up a goal and an assist each for the Thunderbirds in Saturday’s loss. Nick Smith also had a goal for the locals while goaltender Eric Schuch stopped 25 shots.
“There are definitely a lot of positives,” Parco said. “We’re very young but we’re seeing the team getting better every game so hopefully the results will start coming.”
Voodoos Coach Beau Moyer credited the Thunderbirds following the contest.
“John has those guys playing as hard as I’ve seen a group of young players go,” Moyer said.
Battalion prospect Christian Cicigoi made 32 saves for Powassan while Tyler Gilberds pace the offensive attack with a goal and an assist. Dayton Murray assisted on a pair of goals. Shane Beaulieu, Brett Hahkala, Kobe Desmond and Rhys Brown also scored for Powassan, who improves to 4-0-0-0 with the victory.
“I was really happy with our first period,” Moyer said. “Discipline got away from us in the second period. Guys just have to keep their mouths shut and play hockey. It’s a quality league and if you let a team back in like that with the team they have, we were back on our heels for a good portion of that game. In the third period, we weren’t ready to go.”
The Voodoos are back on the ice Sunday night at 6 p.m. when they finish their early western road swing with a contest against the Blind River Beavers.
